No beach renourishment this year

By Rick Catlin. Islander Reporter

A partial renourishment of several portions of Anna Maria Island beaches planned by Manatee County to begin by late December won't be taking place this year, according to Manatee County Ecosystems Manager Charlie Hunsicker.

"There was not enough time to get all the plans in place. It's just not going to happen this winter or spring," he said, and if the project continued to go forward, would have run straight into turtle nesting season, which begins in April. "We're planning on the project around this time next year," said Hunsicker.

The partial beach renourishment was to add sand to the .6 mile portion of Anna Maria beach that the last beach renourishment effort headed by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and mismanaged by Goodloe Marine of Apollo Beach failed to reach, in addition to renourishment of Coquina Beach and Cortez Beach, both in Bradenton Beach.

Hunsicker said planning for next year would continue, with the feasibility study being done by Coastal Planning and Engineering of Boca Raton updated in time for it to be presented to the Manatee County Board of County Commissioners. That could be as early as the summer of 2007.

Some maintenance dredging of inland waters, however, will take place next year, noted Hunsicker.

The Florida West Coast Inland Navigation District for the Bradenton-Sarasota area is expected to begin maintenance dredging of the Intracoastal Waterway south of Jewfish Key sometime in early 2007, he said. In addition, the project will include dredging of Longboat Pass. Sand generated by the two efforts will be stockpiled on Coquina Beach for the county's planned 2007 beach renourishment, Hunsicker indicated.

He noted, however, that the WCIND project is not a Manatee County project, but is a federal-state government effort, as was the Goodloe-Corps project of 2005.

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